Mike 84C

George, gota tell you,SWIMBO just looked at your new loco and I quote " god it's butt ugly, a face only a mother could love", now she is into most things steam but even explaining 10000's history failed to change her view. Sorry about that but it made me laugh! I thought it captures the shape of the original very well. Happy Christmas and a joyous New Year!

Morning Ernie, good to see you back in the saddle, but don't goo overdoing it! Doctors often know best! I look at the date's on these photos and I am just too young to have witnessed the happenings of the subjects. Not wishing to wish my life away but to have seen what was happening would have been rather cool. As would being able to be to witness finding life of some sort in deep space, hey ho! Sorry for the hijack Ernie!

Amazing! my first thought was " well what can we make from this pile of parts!"what a result. But it illustrates beautifully why I like Irish railways. But I really like your green sleepers KMCE,very moss like!

Hi Brack, thanks for putting us in the picture. Please tell your Dad that the guys on IRM are thinking about him and wish him a speedy recovery. Heck we need those photies he keeps posting!

Des can be a bit slow responding to emails, can you maybe phone him?. The SSM kits I have built, the CIE brake van and the Bandon Tank go together very well, just take your time and understand what you are going to do. I always try to solder metal kits, only resort to glue as a last resort!

I spy a Double Fairlie lurking! I'm sure its a very good model but I am resisting all temptations. My only need is to join the third side of my baseboards then I can have a roundy roundy! But I need to get rid of some Stuuuf!. Books on American narrow gauge anyone? Sorry I've hijacked your thread. Mic.

Airfixfan, I very much enjoyed your article on the Swilly Pacific tanks, in Backtrack, fresh photos,to me!, and info; I did'nt know. Sad its all history now even the lorrys and buses.

Would it not be possible to file the curve off? then put a piece of plastic card in the gap of the foot plating. I do like where you are going with this.

struck down by covidpox!! get yourself jabbed thrice I say, works for me. Well so far!!

224 will live on as parts transplanted into others of her class. Its the way with all machines and has been said on this thread a year ago.

Another possibility is that place near Macroom Prince something? that does castings of figures/figurenes. Really interesting, went there about four years ago.

For a really good black repaint I use Games Workshop, Citadel Chaos Black. Its in a spray can and is a really good semi gloss black. Games Workshop is on of those war gaming shops here on big island you must have something similar up in Cork?

Well done Sir, that is one conversion I had not thought of. If you can rise the boiler a few mm , I think that would give the loco more "presence"

The Ore wagon is brilliant and such an unusual prototype. 5 ft wheel base x 5 ft 3 inch gauge a train of them must have looked like a string of conga dancers when in motion!

My Heating Van arrived yesterday, Robert has said it all really!, I'm looking forward to building it. But as always other things are further up the queue. More signals for Bantry and CIE cattle wagons. All I will say is, Thank you John for taking the time and effort to produce such a first class kit. Mick

Nice bike Jim, looks a lot like mine but mine weighs a ton and has not got the pedigree of yours. Still running an 07 Skoda Octavia 163k miles and still does near 60 to the gallon. Had two major breakdowns though, flywheel came loose on the crankshaft and the ECU went t--s up. But its a euro3 engine so will probably get taxed off the road soon. Only bought another car 'cos the swimbo did'nt want to carry on towing with the Skoda! I thought I might use it for a Viking funeral!

Those are some eye opening interviews with train staff. I wonder if similar things happen here in UK that do not get reported on?

Worth replacing the steel weights in commercial wagons with lead or car wheel weights. Maybe even steel wagon axles, not that I have! Some of my model railway friends put a piece of foam under the wagon floor that gently rubs the axle. This I have done and it works.

I see every day here in rural Lincolnshire good farming land taken out of food production to be covered with solar farms or grow maize for digesters to power small generation plants. These farmers get grants to do this. Meanwhile few new houses or warehouse complexes produced by the building boom have photovoltaic roofs from new and the feed in tariffs for producing electricity by domestic owners gets smaller. Food security, joined up thinking its all a joke. I know of a very large poultry company, lots of very shallow roofs on large chicken sheds, not a photovoltaic panel in sight, but when grants were being handed out for biomass boilers to heat the sheds; gas out; biomass = wood pellets in! All transported in huge walking floor trailers from at least north of Newcastle/Tyne or maybe the Borders. I expect the trucks went back empty. Please tell me how green is that? While I'm ranting! Lots of grain grown here = lots of straw, used to be used as deep litter in chicken sheds, now its burnt in a local power station, thousands of bales p.a. The chicken litter is now sawdust from guess where?! and the used litter is burnt in a power station, not locally but in Suffolk! at least 70/80 miles away. I feel rather strongly about these sort of things and this is from a man who made his living from trucks. GSR 800, I rather like your comments about poorer nations whose leaders are prepared to sell out their poorer populations who will gain nothing except poverty. I used to think it was just China that was pillaging Africa but the EU is at it as well.

Very good Westcorkrailway, now looking at those and thinking way outside the box. How about cutting off the clerestory filling the hole and putting a new thin plastic roof on, would that give us a MGWR elliptical roofed coach?

Yes David, I have been looking at how others do it and I think servos is the route I shall try. Got till March to get it all working! easy ha ha! But another two to make so a couple of little jigs for better accuracy is the plan. But it does go up and down on the bob weight.

My first ever scratch built signal. Must do better with the next two ,cos I blew it up x10 and must do better!! Looks fine at the two foot rule.

I wonder when the Crossley sound file will be available? I know getting in and out of Oz is difficult. When it happens it happens!

Northroader that is a fantastic picture of Westport Quay. I wonder if that is a flour mill and who owned it? because that looks like a vacuum evacuator, used for unloading ships, up the side of the building. Was the quay rail connected ?

Thanks to the lads at IRM A 46 arrived yesterday. What a model! I think its the most detailed model diesel I have ever seen, let alone owned, museum quality is the phrase I would use. And we get to operate them. I also liked the booklet, a nice touch a little extra! Packaging that holds the model safely and it looks like first class QC. A high standard to set yourselves IRM! Only downside I can see is will I want to run my Silver Fox A & C at the same time as my IRM A? I'll just grit my teeth and man up!